The Gaslight Anthem Album

I took a drive today, thought about you.
Thought about a friend who passed, and how much we just went through.
I saw the sun shine off the hood of a Cadillac,
I thought about some things I'd say, and some I would take back.
I thought about how fortunate I feel to be alive.

And if you're scared of the future tonight,
we'll just take it each hour one at a time.
It's a pretty good night for a drive,
so dry up those eyes, dry up those eyes.
Because the radio will still play loud,
songs that we heard as our guards came down.
Like in the summertime when we first met,
I'll never forget, don't you forget,
these nights are still ours.

I still love the way you smile.
I still love the ocean.
We should remember to slow down more often, maybe we will.
There's a lotta good things coming our way right now.
A lotta bad had passed but we survived the breakdowns.
All is forgiven, water under bridges now.

[Chorus]

I'm broke and I'm hungry, I'm hard up and I'm lonely
I been dancing on this killing floor for years
And of the few things I am certain
I'm the captain of my burden
I'm sorry doll, I could never stop the rain

Once you said I was your hero, you would dance with me on a dime
We could spin this world right right right round,
And catch back up on the flip side
I was gonna get this real big engine,
I was gonna get them Broadway Stars
You were gonna be my Judy Garland,
We were gonna share your Tin Man heart

There's a dirty wind blowing, there's a storm front coming
There's an S.O.S. on the seas tonight
Steady now, steady now, soldier hold fast now
It's heads or tails on heart attacks and broken dreams tonight

We used to drive all night, all over town
We go Waltzing Matilda, when Matilda came around
and I always sang them blues to you

There's a dirty wind blowing, there's a storm front coming in
There's an S.O.S. on the seas tonight
Steady now, steady now, soldier hold fast now
It's heads or tails on heart attacks and broken dreams tonight
On heart attacks and broken dreams
Atlantis is my only dream tonight

And tonight the coals light is quiet, it’s quieter than it’s ever been.
Honey this town is a prison, with its four walls closing in
and they got one pill to make you smaller, they one pill to make you scream.
Darling this heart is on fire, and this life is but a dream

alright, alright.

You see this town pulls my heart strings, I fell in love with the Shrewsbury stars
but you see there’s far too many diamonds, in the back seats of Bouregards .
And I could never stop this burning honey I can’t settle dust,
I could never stand my way through dark and this heart is on fire

alright alright.

Tonight tonight
we’re gonna ride like silver on a desolation moonlight
tonight tonight
ain’t coming back until the morning light,
tonight tonight
it’s alright alright
tonight tonight. Alright alright.
dancing my moonlight, my old friend the twilight

We are the last of the jukebox romeos,
We are romantics by the light of the fourway
We came to sing out a chorus, reinvent the good times
And to bring it all back home again

[Chorus:]
Honey we came to dance with the girls with the stars in their eyes
Do the jump back jack stop and slide to the right
Never break their hearts never make em cry so come on
Strike up the band with a song that everybody knows
If I'm not your kind then don't tell a soul
I'm not the one who hates bein' alone so c'mon

And in this unstable arena
Of what's left or become of my America
I'm asking this dance so come take my hand, c'mon

[Chorus]

And if they end it all by the end of tonight
If the big bombs drop down over this quiet Edison sky
under the central jersey skies

[Chorus]

Cause you ain't never had a night on the town
Like I could show you such a night on the town
You ain't never had a song you could sing
It's a deep dark night, I hear you, I been there
and these are the songs we sing
and these are the songs we sing
You ain't never seen a two step
Like when you seen it from your mama's house
Where the kids flash like lightning
To the very best dancers in town
We learned from the very best dancers around
Come take my hand
Mama we came to dance

Give me mercy and I need it now,
I’m a bleed a little poison out,
I’m a cry a little river down
and then I’m setting this whole thing on fire,
and I’m burning up the night she died
and I’m putting every last picture aside
I’m gonna say what I need to say,
in my very last letter to you,
cuz you always made it clear,
said that you’d never be my pain.
So here’s to you when you cried baby blues
And just paused a cool to refrain
And you said she was satisfied
and this body’s just waiting to die
and I could listen sometimes
but you said its alright
its just a whole lot harder alone.
But I wish you knew her now,
she’s a better side of me now,
and I’m doing the best I can,
its what you wanted,
and I knew it was just how you would smile
Mary you looked just like
it was 1930 that night.
But hear the nights they will eat you alive,
but I won’t give in tonight,
You said its not worth my time
and not to record them,
And not to settle just a piece of mind
but I can wait it out all night,
And we keep on breathing [sigh]
But Mary I found a sound
and this heart keeps pouring it out
and the glory has come,
but its probably gonna fade like the tattoo
that hides this shame and the reasons always fade
and the pain gets out some day
and I’m saying my goodbyes deeply wise
cuz I don’t know how to say
Stay still in the pain
But I wish you knew her now,
she’s a better side of me now,
and I’m doing the best I can,
its what you wanted,
and I sing like you were there
and I knew it was just how you smile
Mary you looked just like
it was 1930 that night
If I recall the last thing you said to me,
before we broke up, before it took you from me,
and you said I love you more than the stars in the sky
but your aliveness just gets me tonight

"all hope abandon, ye who enter here"
said the sign i read that was hanging above her bed
and the sirens over wailing
but a man cant ignore the signs
you gotta keep a good eye
on the winding road ahead
and my first sin was a young american girl

and i spent time 'neath the tressels
with the punks and the dimestore saints
kept faith and a switchblade tucked beneath my coat
and i ran with dirty angels
slept out in the rain
we were scared and tired and barely 17
and my first sin was the fear that made me old

and i walked down by the shipyards
near the place where i was born
saying "ah maria, if you woulda known me when..."
but she just smiles by the light on the navesink banks
saying "listen baby i know you now"
and she steps into the river
and i just stand by the moon
thinkin' 'bout a ghost i hear at night
and she says your first sin was a lie you told yourself

Let it ride, let it ride, let it roll off your mind.
Don't say a single world, get back inside.
Let me drive, let me drive, disappear in the night,
like I was a ghost in your dreams.

And it was all completely wrong, Virginia.
You were much too much for me.
I was a boy on the lawn, with his eyes to the sky.
You were Garbo, smoke, and deceit.
And it was Saturday, September, and fire.
It was a backdrop set in your smile.
It was all I could want in the sway of the song,
I was haunted for so many years.

Let it ride, let it ride, let it roll off your mind.
Don't say a single world, get back inside.
Let me drive, let me drive, disappear in the night,
like I was a ghost in your dreams.
Say goodbye, say goodbye, give a kiss and a sigh.
Never, never, never bring me back to your mind.
Let me slide, let me slide, roll off your mind,
like I was a movie you'd seen.

And it was all just a crime, Virginia, let your fire be mercy to me.
I was a boy in your arms, safe in your arms,
and you swore like a promise to me.
That I would never, never, never leave your heart.
No I would never, never, never leave your heart.
But where are you now, I can still feel you now,
and I hear all your songs in the breeze.

I was crawling around in my head in the haze of a trance.
Rico said, "I'ma turn you onto a sound, cool out your head.
This is the sound from Camden town."

And then I heard it like a shot through my skull to my brain,
I felt my fingertips tingle and it started to rain,
When the walls of my bedroom were tremblin' around me,
This ramshackle voice over attack of a bluesbeat,
Tellin' me he's only looking for fun.
This was the sound of the very last gang in town.

As heard by my wild young heart, like directions on a cold dark night,
Sayin', 'Let it out... You're doin' all right.'
And I heard it in his chain gang soul.
It wasn't just the same sad song.
Saying, 'Let it out, you're doing all right.'
And I'm doing all right, are you doin' all right?

And I carried these songs like a comfort wherever I'd go.
They was there when my summers was high, there when she left me alone.
Saying... 'The soul is hard to find.'
And I never got to tell him so I just wrote it down,
I wrapped a couple chords around it and I let it come out,
When the walls of my bedroom trembled around me,
To this ramshackle voice over attack of a bluesbeat,
And a girl, on the excitement gang.
That was the sound of the very last gang in town.

[Chorus]

That was the sound...
I hear the sound...
Do you hear the sound....
I hear the sound...
Of the very last gang in town...

Don't think twice, I still believe it John.
We lived those nights, like we were dying...
On the long haul drives, for our Amaria...
With the ragged sails high, and the radio on.

And I always have remembered, in case you're wondering,
84 takes a lifetime, and Bobby does it better.
I still sing 'em ragged for you and Maria.
I don't drive nowhere, without the radio on.

And I'm still here singin'... Thinking 'bout the government.
In my old man shoes, and how you'd understand that.
Are you hiding in a basement, mixin' up the medicine?
Every April Fool's I say your name.
I know you name.
I still know your name.

[Chorus]

In my head
I am already gone
Side roads pointed up
Decisions decided on

But in my nights
There are restless hours
3 AM goes down
Nothing else comes up

And the only thing we know
Is it's getting dark and we better go
And the only thing we say
Are the despairs of the day

And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers, I
And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers
I'm alright to drive

I'm the weary kind
I'm much too tired to cry
Though it's sad enough for tears
It's been dropping dry for years
When the next year comes along
I don't know if I'll be home
I don't know if we'll survive

And the only thing we know
Is it's getting dark and we better go
And the only thing we say
Are the despairs of the day

And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers, I
And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers
I'm alright to drive

And we're much too young of men
To carry such heavy heads
And tonight for the first time
It felt good to be alive
And we're much too young of men
To carry such heavy heads
And tonight for the first time
It felt good to be alive again, my friend

The only thing we know
Is it's getting dark and we better go
And the only thing we say
Are the despairs of the day

And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers, I
And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers, I
And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers, I
And if you're too tired
Go to sleep, my brothers
I'm alright to drive

We were the magnificent dreamers.
In secret lamplight hideouts.
We swore the world couldn't break us,
Even when the world took us down.

So here I am struggling out in the mighty jungle,
Moving eighteen miles a minute, not slowing down for nothing.
I look to my left and I look to my right,
And I'm callin' out for my brothers
But it's so dark in this night, am I alone?

Did they fall down by the wayside?
Was I moving too blind to see them?
Were they calling out to me?
Or did Despair set in?

Were the things that we wanted when we were still sixteen,
Only passing and fleeting, or just too far out of reach?
Were you hard up or broken man, I woulda helped you out...
Were you numb and distracted when I was calling out?
I was calling out...
On a Sunday morning the whole crowd assembled,
I've done some things that I'm not too proud of...
I've never left you, a deaf ear for longing.
Some hearts are gallows, I'm not here for hangin' around.

It's all right, man.
I'm only bleeding, man.
Stay hungry, stay free,
And do the best you can.

I was born in a town where the rivers flow free
On a January night when the cold winds freeze
I got an Irish name and an injury
Blessing and a curse cast down on me
Ain't nobody got the blues like me
Ain't nobody got the blues like me

Was a blood red sky on the morning tide
Was a cold wind blowing when I left that night
And the morning bells rang, alright, alright
Shoulda stayed home with you that night
Ain't nobody played the fool like I
Ain't nobody played the fool like I

Things got bad and things got worse
Half like blessing, half like curse
It's these blessings so hard to see sometimes
Gotta little clearer about dusk last night
Ain't nobody got a blessing like mine
Ain't nobody got a blessing like mine

It's a red sky night and I'm doing alright
It's a red sky night and I'm doing just fine